When it comes to describing Herman Cain, a lot of words come to my mind: unconventional, conservative, and for some reason the number nine. However, when it comes to describing his advertisements, I am at a total loss of words.
His latest viral video is an advertisement featuring his chief of staff, Mark Block, talking about his candidate in front of a building. What would be a lackluster campaign ad borders on bizarre thanks to shotty camera angles, an awkward smile at the end, and the piece de resistance: Block lighting up and smoking a cigarette.
The last factor has been the subject of many news stories this week. CBS's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer claimed that Cain's ad, "sends a signal that smoking is cool." Herman Cain refuted this claim stating that Block smoked during the commercial because, "Mark Block smokes. That's all the ad says. We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke."
Whether or not you agree with what Cain said or how Block acted, there's no denying the amount of coverage the advertisement has gained. It has gained over a million views on Youtube alone and has had the whole informed internet world buzzing about it for a week now not to mention Cain is now leading in the polls over Mitt Romney. In its essence, as Mark McKinnon producer of McCain and Bush advertisements says that Herman Cain is different. "And that's kind of the whole Herman Cain message: Why not something different? Why not Herman Cain?" I can agree that we do need change in Washington, but I'm still not sure if Herman Cain is the type of "different" we want.
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